Took off Sunday after Church and headed for Colorado for a few days. On my thirty-second day of summer vacation, I woke up in Highline State Park which is right on 11 8/10 Road! The names of the roads in Colorado near Mack Mesa and Loma were just killing me. Hysterical, I tell you: N 3/4 Road, etc.! Had to take a picture!
We drove through Montrose to Ouray where we stretched our legs a little by hiking in a city park there called Box Canyon Falls. First we did the easy trail down into the box canyon where it was dark, cool, and loud with the roaring sound of all that water coming in. Then we did the native plant loop. Then we hiked up to to the high bridge which began with a staircase of 95 steps. You see, counting them helped me to climb them. After that it was dirt and rocks until we got to the top. People were wishing they had my hiking stick. We managed to dodge the rain showers most of the time. Following are a couple of pics from the falls and one of a yellow-bellied marmot who didn't mind posing for us.
After lunch, we headed to Silverton to go on a mining tour. The mine has this great gig going in order to keep all the visitors happy and out of their hair while they wait for their tour--panning for minerals! It sure kept us occupied! Our guide told us the mine was named Old Hundred for the hundreth psalm in the Bible which has that verse that says "make a joyful noise." All of our yellow coats had names on them. Mine was "Sneezy" and K's was "Poot." They loaded us up into their little rail cars and drove us in. From there it was a walking tour and Joe taught us more than we ever knew before about mining (face, ribs, bottom, back). His information about using dynamite reminded me of some of Arlo's old stories about using dynamite. Following are pictures from the mine tour. We drove on to Durango and slept there for the evening.
You guys do the coolest things! I loved the bright yellow coats and the explanation of the mine's name. Very cool.
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